220089 Historical and political epistemologies. Reflections on knowledge, the sciences, and society (S) (SoSe 2023)

Historical epistemology has unfolded since the early 20th century as an effort to historicize a philosophical investigation of the modern sciences. While the conceptual or later praxeological insights of historical epistemology had significant impact on the understanding of the sciences, the question in what way this field can be considered a political project and/or adumbrates a political understanding of the sciences remains discussed.

In this class, we will analyze and discuss key contributions from interwar European epistemologies (e.g. G. Bachelard, L. Fleck, O. Neurath) to understand the formation of the field in a time of scientific and political crises. For the postwar period, we will focus on the problem of ideology in order the bring the field’s political dimension into view. Thereby, we will explore in how far historical and political epistemologies continue to address important aspects of how to understand the modern sciences’ role in society.

Rheinberger, Hans. On Historicizing Epistemology: An Essay. Cultural Memory in the Present. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2010 (German version as Historische Epistemologie zur Einführung. Hamburg: Junius, 2008).